weekly selfie 1- kitchen table series or Roaming

Quin Pizarro

Susan Sontag excerpt from On Photography

"Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it."

"It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge -- and, therefore, like power."

I find this article interesting because photographs capture moments of time. Paintings can contain substantial evidence of something which once was, but it is nothing compared to a photo. Photos capture real time moments and allow viewers to immerse themselves into a moment of time. This can either be a nostalgic feeling, because it can be like diving into an old memory, or it can be a curious feeling wondering where this photo was taken, and left to the perception of a viewer due to not being present when this photo was originally captured. 

Revisiting Carrie Mae Weems’s Landmark “Kitchen Table Series”

“This woman can stand in for me and for you; she can stand in for the audience, she leads you into history."

"As she fired her camera shutter in her kitchen, Weems knew she was achieving something new in her work with “The Kitchen Table Series,” but she couldn’t have anticipated the power her daily performance would have three decades on: a series so universal and timeless, yet crucial in amplifying Black perspectives in art. "

This article really hit home for me because as a Hispanic man raised by a strong woman I can understand and grasp the concept of this article strongly. I put my own mother in the shoes of Carrie Mae, and for me, I am decifering this peice very personally. Women are very strong and empowering figures in our lives and these pieces are so special because though she created art on her kitchen table, these pictures represent strong women figures in every household. The image of her crying shows a-lot to me because in others she is with a man, or helping her child. But the one where she is alone shows me that mothers are also fragile beings that are looked up to but also sometimes an be lost and struggling within this life. 

How Carrie Mae Weems Rewrote the Rules of Image-Making

"It’s the series that made her career and inspired a new generation of artists who had never before seen a woman of color looking confidently out at them from a museum wall, and for whom Weems’s work represented the first time an African-American woman could be seen reflecting her own experience and interiority in her art."

"Photography can enslave and re-victimize, Weems has shown us; it can also, potentially, set us free from our inherited bias and expectations."

I find this article very interesting because it seems very vulnerable and pure to me. It depicts of an African American woman who shows her life and struggles throughout her art. It seems to capture intimate and vulnerable moments which is very special because others would be hesitant to share. Carrie paved a way for more artist woman of color to feel free and express themselves throughout these pieces. 

Inspiration photo

This photo is my recreation of the one above. I wanted to modernize it, by incorporating my laptop but still keep it black and white for a suspenseful twist. I was inspired by this photo because there has been countless times that I am rested like the man in the picture and I wanted to capture a moment in raw modern day timing.